Seaside Weekend

Hello from Devon, dear readers!  Ironically, I'm posting to tell you about this weekend's blogging hiatus - I've decided that, to truly let loose, I need to keep my laptop packed away in my cute H&M overnight bag, and so there will be no further posts here until Monday.  Ready yourself for holiday pictures and stories upon my return!  And have a fabulous weekend wherever you are.

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Frock Fridays - Vintage

This weekend, the Southbank Centre is hosting a three-day vintage fête complete with fashion, music, art, dance, film and design to celebrate the 1920-1980s.  It's expensive - tickets without access to the evening revue show cost £60 - but it looks like it will be a blast.  Of course, the bits of the festival that would interest me the most would be the retro fashion and the decade-specific make-overs.  I yearn to be a '50s pin-up!  I could pull a Betty Grable, don't you think?

In the spirit of this weekend's vintage bonanza, for today's Frock Fridays I give you Grace Kelly in 1955's classic crime caper To Catch A Thief:

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Stunning.  I wish we had more excuses to be that glamorous in this day and age!

Seven Links

Tripbase's My Seven Links post has been making its way through the blogosphere, and it seems to have meandered itself over to Betsy Transatlantically via the lovely In the Left Lane - thanks for the shout-out!

This is a bit of a narcissistic exercise; there is necessarily a bit of navel-grazing involved in trolling through one's own posts to fill these categories.  But, hey, you know me, and so you know that I like nothing better than a bit of introspection.  Okay, maybe I'm being needlessly cynical.  I've discovered new blogs through this chain game and have unearthed never-before-read posts from some of my favorite bloggers.  Also, I think it does succeed in its aim to "share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again."  So - alright, here goes...

Most Beautiful Post: More from the Bishop's Garden
Many of the images on this blog have been sourced from all over the interwebs.  I spend hours slaving over my hot MacBook (literally - sometimes it burns me) to find you the prettiest pictures.  (Exhibit A: one of my 2010 Christmas posts.)  But this post is the most beautiful to me; while the photos aren't the most artistic - it was a case of point-and-shoot on a cooperatively lovely spring day - it contains wonderful memories of a gorgeous afternoon wandering around the Cathedral and its environs with two of my favorite and much-missed girls in DC.

Most Popular Post:  The Cost of Living in London
Raise your hand if you're surprised at this.  Anyone?  No, me neither.  This post has had by far and away the most unique pageviews of any on this blog - almost certainly because if you search "the cost of living in London" I show up on the third page of hits.  (Hey, only the third page?  That's a bit of a slap in the face, don't you think?  I thought you and me had an understanding, Google.  Humph.)

Most Controversial Post:  Missed Opportunities
This post has caused the most furor of any in the past year, probably because I didn't explain myself very well!  I do stand by what I said, but I recognize that my outlook is colored by my experiences - as all of ours are.  Very glad, though, that you engaged with me on this topic, dear readers.

Most Helpful Post:  Expat List - Forewarning
Everyone - expats and pure anglophiles alike - loves reading the nuts and bolts of uprooting and settling down elsewhere; it's key to know that other have gone through the challenges that you're facing and that they've survived.  I think that this post was most helpful because of the superduper graph I made.  (Yes, I am terribly modest.)

Surprisingly Successful Post:  How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Numbers
Also, everyone loves to read emotive posts; when you put yourself out on the interwebs, you're revealing yourself to potentially millions of strangers, and I think that everyone appreciates the candor of honesty on a blog.  I suppose the surprising part of the success of this post was how well it was received.  All the commenters seemed to understand what I was feeling, which in my book is a ringing endorsement!

Under-appreciated Post:  Edits, Continued
To be honest - and, again, terribly modest - I think that this post would have been more appreciated had I written it once I was into the swing of things.  After all, I had, like, half a follower in early June 2010.  But at the same time I don't know that I would have been able to write this blogging/identity post any later in my exploration of what it is to be a blogger.  Many of the questions I pose are still relevant, certainly, but I think that now I would approach them from a different angle, and I would definitely come away with different answers.

Proudest Post:  Preemptive Nostalgia
I am most proud of all of the posts I wrote regarding my short-lived (though nonetheless very painful) breakup with Jon, especially Breaking News.  But this is the post where I really first put it all out there; I do make an effort, even in my meta posts, to keep things light, but I think I owed it both to myself and to you to be brutal about what I was going through.  This was a very hard post to write, but I'm very glad I shared it with you.

And now - drumroll please - I have the honor of passing this game along to some of my favorite bloggers!  Ladies, prepare your engines, and have fun:

Beantown Prepster (the bar is over - come out, come out!)
Lemony Snippet
Milton's Manor
Texpats Abroad
Laura's Vie Quotidienne

Summer Evening Light

The British are so pessimistic about summertime.  Every time we have a beautiful warm day, they tell me to take advantage of it while it lasts because it won't happen often.  Even Jon - English as he is - noted on the solstice that it was all downhill from here on out; the days would only get shorter.

As much as I hate to admit it, it's true: it's nearly 9:30 in the evening and it's already dark.  Only two weeks ago we'd still have been in the throes of twilight at this time, but I suppose I must face up to the calendar.  After all, we're approaching August.

But that doesn't mean we can't revel in the summer we have left.  I for one am angry whenever I see autumn (or pre-fall - what the [expletive] does pre-fall mean, anyway?) collections on style blogs.  Let it be, I want to shout!  The magnolia in my front garden is still bursting with huge lemony flowers, the sun still races my alarm to wake me in the mornings, and the slip-n-slide is still slick with water from the children's afternoon play.  It's summer, still.  I insist it is.

And so, while we can, we'll spend happy hour at any pub with an decently wide sidewalk - everyone spills outside when the weather permits, forcing commuters to pass by in the street.  We'll book train tickets to the beach - a group of us are going to Devon this weekend, and swimming costumes are a must for the weekend bag.  We'll stockpile cucumbers and strawberries and oranges and mint - you never know when you might need to whip up a jug of Pimm's, as guests come 'round so spontaneously these months.

The English might be pessimistic about summer, but I'll give them this: they know how to live it to the fullest while it's here.  Thank goodness for that!

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Monday Laugh

Somehow, although Google+ is said to be exclusive, I've found myself with several invitations to join.  The last thing I need is another exhibitionist medium through which to express myself, but - of course - my curiosity got the better of me and I signed up.  I'm still not entirely on board and I'm trying to take the whole thing with a rather large grain of salt, so I found these cartoons about Google+ very funny:

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If you're behind the times regarding all these social networks, let me suggest you follow this flowchart from WaPo's Aexandra Petri:

Pink Sunday

What's it called - you know, when you associate colors with things that aren't, in fact, colors at all?  Ah, yes: synesthesia.  (Thank you, OneLook.com; you are my new favourite dictionary.)  Today is synesthetic - or, to be more accurate, chromaestheic.  Today is pink.

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It's not really any sort of special day; I suppose the clichéd thing to say would be that I'm wearing rose-colored glasses.  But - oh, it is pink today!

It's the kind of day where you feel inclined to whistle while doing chores; I went whole hog and sang along to the new Blake Shelton album while scrubbing the shower.  (Even Jon has memorized Honey Bee as a result of my current infatuation.)

It's the kind of day where you buy sprinkles to put on the cupcakes you've made because, truly, cupcakes without sprinkles on a day like today would be sacrilegious.  (I turned to the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, natch, for the recipe.)

It's the kind of day where you put out the white wash to dry on the line in the garden and imagine yourself as Anne of Green Gables, bleaching the bedsheets in the sun.  (LM Montgomery will always be my barometer for how willful girls grow into poised women while never losing their youthful sprightliness.)

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Oh, bear with me while I revel in this unabashed pinkness.  I simply can't help it today!  Hope you're having an absolutely beautiful weekend, too, dear readers.

Frock Fridays - Graduation

Tonight we're going out with a bunch of Jon's friends to celebrate their one-year anniversary of having graduated from university.  (Yes, I know, I'm rocking the cradle.  Don't judge me.)  It made me a bit nostalgic for my own college graduation - those whirlwind weeks between finishing classes and matriculation filled with dinners, parties, and balls.  Of course, remembering all the festivities recalled all the fabulous dresses I had occasion to wear...

senior dinner

king's ball

senior ball

graduation party

last night in New York

the gown

Much love to all of my Columbiatches!  I miss you all tons, and am so glad that we shared so many amazing memories.

Why Can't The English/Americans?

Oh, goodness - I haven't blogged in a week!  Shame on me.  And lo, I have time to blog tonight - except that I'm going to spend the whole evening catching up on other blogs instead.  I've got to know the word on the street, yo.

Oh, hey, that sounds like an Americanism (or two)!  What, you haven't heard the furor online about the English/American language divide?  Catch up here:

- original BBC article
- UPenn Language Log rebuttal
- BBC follow-up article
- the Ecomist Language blog rebuttal
- Separated by a Common Language blog commentary

Oy vey.

Doesn't anyone remember that Lerner and Loewe addressed this issue decades ago?

Frock Fridays - Suffolk Style

My official summer vacation doesn't doesn't start till 27 August when my friend Christian arrives in London to kick off two weeks of phenomenality (hey, it's a word now, okay?) but Jon and I have two mini-breaks scheduled: a weekend in Suffolk with the fam and a weekend in Devon with friends.

Tomorrow evening we will hie ourselves to Jon's parents' place for a few days.  As per usual at these summer weekends in the country, we're guaranteed at least one barbeque, one drinks party, and a day on the boat.  (Of course, we are also slipping in a viewing of Harry Potter 7 part two; we're not neanderthals, you know.)  I'm thinking that this Jaeger dress will be perfect for anything the weekend throws at me:

Fête de la Bastille

'Tis a revolutionary month!  Happy Bastille Day to Francophiles everywhere - I hope you celebrate with Champagne, macaroons, and fireworks.  Next year may we be in Paris!

(all photos from personal trips to Paris)

Set Your Watch For The Hour

Now, you all know how much I love me some Mad Men.  I can't get enough of the glamour and grit of life in New York City in the early 1960s - whether you were momentarily up or down on the wheel of fortune, possibilities seemed to be always around the corner.  I was heartbroken when I read that season five won't be aired until early 2012.  What will I do for the many cold and lonely months until then?

Salvation is coming, though, in the form of a new show that seems to tick all the boxes.  "The BBC," says The Sunday Times, "has taken a lead out of Mad Men's style book with its cool 1950s newsroom drama. The Hour has sexy stars, clever plots, great sets, and sharp dialogue."

Oh, [expletive] yes.

Check out this six-part series, the first episode of which airs on 19 July, and be prepared to question your allegiance to Sterling Cooper Draper Price.

Monday Laugh

As you know - and if you don't, you've probably been living under a rock - the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have just finished a tour of Canada and California.  I hope they read this helpful article from the  New York Times on the culture shock they might have encountered upon arrival in Los Angeles...

Frock Fridays - Disney

Honestly, I didn't know whether to post this as a Monday Laugh or a Frock Fridays - perhaps it can double as both.  Because while, yes, this features dresses, it is also [expletive] ridiculous.

Disney has teamed up with wedding dress designer Alfred Angelo to create a line of princess-themed gowns for your big day.

I kid you not.  See:

Ariel

 Belle

Snow White

I don't even know what to say.

Fo' realz.  I am speechless.

Doesn't matter though - the dresses speak for themselves!

Goodness.

Missed Opportunities

Dear readers, I am the worst expat - or the best expat, depending on how you look at these things.

I missed my first anniversary as a Londoner the other week.  I didn't even notice.  To be honest, I was only made aware of the momentous date a week later, when the HR person at work asked to see my passport for a routine visa check.

Realizing that my anniversary had bypassed me made me sad, actually, but not for the reason you'd think.  Yes, I skipped a chance to celebrate - and you know how I love any excuse to throw a party - but, overwhelmingly, I was upset that I've so immersed myself in my life here that I'm somewhat divorced from what I left behind in the States.

Don't get me wrong, I love that I've assimilated.  I'm thrilled that I have so much going on here that it feels like I've always been part of this world.  In fact, when Jon and I broke up (remember that?) and people asked if I'd be moving back to DC, I told them that there were so many wonderful pieces in the puzzle that is my life in London that missing one piece wasn't the end of things.

But at the same time I am suddenly very conscious of the fact that this past year and everything that's happened during my time here hasn't sprung from some black hole fully formed; I came from somewhere.  I had a job and friends and family and a life there, too, and it's almost sacrilegious, I think, that I missed my anniversary because by not commemorating the date that I left all these things behind betrays them, in a way.

I tried to explain the onslaught of homesickness that all this has brought on, and was told by my friend that I wasn't missing anything momentous by not being in DC.  I'm not afraid of missing milestones, I told her.  I'm upset about missing the routine that we all had; I'm upset about not experiencing the day-to-day joys of being with my friends and family.

This was all brought into even sharper relief when I realized - at 10pm on Sunday 3 July - that I didn't have any Fourth of July plans.  I've made a conscious effort not to be part of an expat crowd.  (Of course, I do have dear expat friends, but as a fellow DC transplant commented recently, I don't see the point in becoming chums with a group of people who are only here temporarily and/or who are here because their husbands' jobs brought them to London and who don't themselves have any desire to carve out a life here.)  Obviously, this generally isn't a problem, but Independence Day rolled around and I was shocked to note that I had no one with whom to make merry.  In the end, after being serenaded with the first few lines of the American national anthem by my colleagues (who don't know any of the words after "dawn's early light") I ended up just heading home to do laundry and tidy my flat from the excesses of the weekend.  I woke up on the fifth and thought, "Well, that was Monday."

So, yes, I've been a bit homesick and down for the past week or so.  I'm sorry to lay this all on you, dear readers, but you know how it is: sometimes you need to enunciate a feeling to make it dissipate.  I'm sure I'll start to feel better once I hit "post" but - in case I don't - do any of you expats out there have any coping advice?  Help, please, dear readers; after all, who needs to pay for therapy when blogging is free?

Monday Laugh Bonus

Happy Fourth of July (again)!

Check out the New York Times article to see the rest!

Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday.  Much love to all - and especially to those Americans far from home.

Monday Laugh

I've mentioned Alexandra Petri very briefly before here; a graduate of both my high school and Harvard, Alexandra now writes a hilarious blog on the Washington Post website.  I tune in to her column every once in a while, and always end up getting sucked in to the backlog because they are so [expletive] funny.


This is one of her more serious posts, and is actually a bit scary as there is truth in her humor.  I highly recommend reading it - after all, what more appropriate day to question patriotism than the Fourth of July?


There is more to this country than an unsingable national anthem.  We believed in the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness before they were mainstream.  Thousands of people come to our shores each year seeking what we have, because it is rare and precious.  We have a system of government based on the consent of the governed.  Our dead soldiers gave their lives not for a flag or because they particularly liked eagles but to protect a way of life that is unique in the world and deserves celebration.  To be a patriot is to believe in all that — in America’s past and its potential.

Happy Fourth of July!

Yes, technically I'm a day early, even on GMT.  But if I know my DC girls, they'll have started celebrating the Fourth of July on Friday evening (if not earlier) so I feel at liberty to wish you all a very happy Independence Day right now.

I have to be honest - not being in the good ol' USofA for this holiday is making me a bit homesick.  The fact that today is my mother's birthday doesn't make things any easier.  (Happy birthday, Mü!)  So at the moment I'm missing a whole lot of people and things that I left behind in the States.  To all of you back home, then: happiest of days, and think of me as I'm thinking of you.  And to all expats:

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Frock Fridays - Wimbledon

With the finals fast approaching - women's on Saturday and men's on Sunday - I've got Wimbledon on the brain.  We've all gone a bit bonkers over the tournament, though I think that this is an annual craziness and not unique to 2011; even in my theatre, which is not a very sporty place, the office television is stuck to the tennis and we sneak to the watercooler every chance we get to check the scores.

I'm all for tennis players crossing over into the fashion world, but I have to admit that I'm not wild about most of the concept outfits that some stars  (I'm looking at you, Venus) sport on the court.  Give me classic tennis whites - feminine and flirty, sure, but still elegant - any day.

[ Nike / Adidas / Lacoste ]